If you have a family that loves movies and music the best gift you can give yourself is a second home theater for the little ones. Seriously, how many times has the Sunday game interfered with or been interrupted to the little one’s needs to watch Disney’s latest and greatest flick? I know these meltdowns occur far too regularly in my household. This is why a second home theater is an excellent idea. Your children learn important lessons and you get to watch television on occasion without tantrums and meltdowns.

There are many benefits to you for building a secondary home theater system not the least of which is spare parts should anything ever happen to yours. I know in our home I was worried that I would never see the kids once we built a system for them but the truth is they each have different tastes as well and sometimes prefer what we are watching over what brother and/or sister are watching. We also have the knowledge that our television is still bigger than theirs and there is always that to draw them back into the land of the living rather than holing up in their basement theater hide away.

Getting back to the benefits, the kids are learning to take turns even establishing a schedule and sticking to it. They are learning to make responsible choices and even to work together on occasion and compromise in favor of watching all of favorite programs that are close to ending but not quite over. It’s great to see them cooperating rather than fighting all the time. It also allows them a place to take their friends when they come over that they are responsible for cleaning up and keeps the mess out of our home theater space (my personal favorite reason for having two home theaters).

For even more benefits when it comes to a second home theater in your home is that your children learn very quickly what it means to break something such as the components in their home theater and aren’t likely to do so again. It teaches responsibility on a level that most toys that are lost and broken one week after Christmas could never get across. They learn to take care of the equipment, to wipe off the fingerprints, not to throw things at it, and not to pull it off the shelves and leave it on the floor as they do with their other toys. This is something that matters to them and I have been amazed at how well they have taken care of it.

Finally, a home theater system is an awesome tool for discipline. The threat of not allowing any one or all of them not to watch their home theater with surround sound or any other television in the household for that matter is a fate worse than death for them most of the time and enough to get them to walk on the straight and narrow. The few times this privilege has been revoked have been quite effective in creating a much more cooperative atmosphere of harmony at home or at school.

While there are many who believe that a home theater or surround sound system for the kids is overkill I firmly believe that it is an incredible privilege and responsibility that prepares them to deal with the world outside as they grow older. They are already learning about negotiation, cooperation, and respect.

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If you are in the market for a surround sound system I’m sure you are trying to learn as much as possible about options before you reach the buying stage. One thing to keep in mind is that there are many options and most of them will come down to a matter of taste when all is said and done. There is no right or wrong component or process when it comes to buying a surround sound system only what does and doesn’t work for you and the space you have available.

You will find throughout the process that there are many parts, pieces, and components that you may purchase for your surround sound system and even more prices for those individual items. Ultimately the decision comes down to how much of a sound snob you are. Seriously. I must admit that my personal preference is for the most possible sound saturation and the most realistic possible sound as possible. For this reason I am more interested in buying the components as individuals rather than a simple AV receiver. This does not mean that an AV receiver wouldn’t be perfectly adequate (especially in relation to the size of my rather small media room) but that I prefer the added control over the sound that individual components provides.

Unfortunately, I cannot tell you which will work best for your situation as your tastes and requirements will also play heavily on which decision is best for you as will your budget. Some people do not place nearly as much emphasis on sound as I do and most people have budget constraints that make individual components seem like a bit of overkill. However, if you spend, as much time as I do submersing yourself in experiences that require sound, then you will find that the investment in these components may be well worth every penny. You will pay a few though and should understand that now.

If you want to build a fabulous surround sound system you will need to start with the preamp or processor. This will be the heart of your sound system and works as a surround processor, AM/FM radio, amplifier, and preamp in one. This piece of equipment receives the signals and then sends them on their merry way. Amazingly enough the information always seems to find its way where it should go-assuming of course that everything is plugged into its proper channel.

The tuner allows you to receive and process AM/FM radio signals, XM or Satellite Radio, and some High Definition signals as well. The amplifier adds power to the sound or as its name implies, amplifies it. This allows the sound to ‘reach’ across the room so that everyone in the room is touched by it.

These components each achieve functions individually that a good quality AV receiver can accomplish. The difference is always in degrees and depth. The AV receiver allows some of the functionality of each but doesn’t quite match the control and nuances that can be achieved with any one of the pieces individually. The average consumer doesn’t need that sizeable of an investment in equipment, money, time, or space in order to achieve excellent theater quality sound in their home theater system and that is the important thing to remember.

If you are hoping to imitate a ‘theater’ experience in an average size room, chances are you will never need anything more than a decent AV receiver and an excellent set of speakers. The more speakers you have in your surround sound system, the better the quality of the sound will be. However, better quality speakers will trump marginal quality equipment any day while marginal quality speakers can still ruin the sound of even the best quality AV equipment. The best advice I can give you when purchasing equipment for your surround sound system is to make sure you put your money in your speakers and sort the rest out afterwards.

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One of the biggest debates that arises when purchasing a decent surround sound system or home theater is whether or not to handle the installation yourself. For that question the answer is completely relative to the level of complexity of your system and your understanding of physics and electronics. Many of the box kits on the market today are simple to install and could be done fairly quickly (in the course of a couple of hours or an afternoon) even by rank amateurs such as myself.

If you are purchasing a massive home theater or surround sound system that has very rigorous requirements in order to guarantee the type of sound you paid good money to receive it might be in your best interest to make the investment of a professional installation. It is important to remember that home theater kits come in all shapes, sizes, and price ranges. The fact that you could easily install a $500-$2,000 kit doesn’t mean that a home theater that costs in excess of $20,000 is as simple of a matter to install (though at that price I firmly believe it should be self installing). The point is if you’ve paid that kind of money for a home theater or surround sound system you want to make sure that you are absolutely getting your money’s worth on the listening end. A professional installation is one way to make sure of that.

Installation is expensive in some cases as everything that has the word professional in front of it. One thing you can do in order to curtail that cost to some degree is shop around and compare prices, you might find one retailer that is willing to throw in free installation in order to make the sale. If the cost of professional installation makes up the difference between the lowest offer elsewhere go for it, you will have saved money and still managed the professional installation that truly is in your best interest.

Another thing you will want to do is find out whether or not self-installation might nullify any warranties. There are occasions where this is the case and you do not want to risk your warranty on a $20,000 surround sound speaker system in order to save a couple of hundred dollars on installation up front. There is a lot that can be said over the power of saving money, however, there are some risks that simply aren’t worth it. For me, this is one of those risks. There is simply too much that could go wrong to operate without a warranty.

While there is some degree of satisfaction that goes along with doing things for yourself there are times when the process is nothing more than an exercise in futility. If you must install yourself (and some of us simply can’t resist the urge) then you should take care from the very beginning to closely follow all instructions for installation and operation in order to get the best possible results. The problem is that too many of us never bother reading the instructions until we are stuck and at that point it is sometimes way along in the process to have to start completely over-trust me, I’ve been there on this one.

If you are one of many people around the world who has purchased a box set of surround sound speakers or a home theater kit you should find that the installation process is simple and straightforward and shouldn’t require professional expertise in order to accomplish. Consider yourselves lucky in this and get to work. Pretty soon you will be enjoying theater quality sound from your surround sound system whether you are listening to music, movies, or the latest game. Whether you choose professional installation or not I wish you the best of luck building your new surround sound system and many hours of happy listening to whatever is on the deck for today.

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A good home theater and surround sound system for your movie enjoying pleasure is a rather large investment for the common movie buff-at least if you are purchasing a really high quality system for your home theater or media room. This isn’t to say that you cannot find decent surround sound systems for small spaces that come with much lower price tags than you will ordinarily find on the market. In fact, there are many ways in which you can buy a decent surround sound system for a small room even if you are limited by budget constraints.

Second Hand Systems

Buying second hand from Ebay carries some degree of risk but a reputable seller is often a good place to start. There are some people who simply can’t stand to have technology that is 6 months or even 6 days for some matters, old. Their loss is your gain as you can score a really nice surround sound system, speakers included at amazingly low prices if the bidding works in your favor and you know a little about brands and quality. Pawnshops and electronics consignment stores are other good places to find bargains on this particular sort of equipment.

Buy Boxed Sets

I’m typically opposed to box sets when it comes to electronics as there have been many instances in the past where these were merely a method of pawning off inferior goods on an unsuspecting public. However, big names such as Bose have gone over to the dark side so to speak and are beginning to offer box sets of surround sound speakers at surprisingly and amazingly reasonable price tags. There are cheaper brands than Bose, don’t get me wrong, I use them as an indication of the wide variety and standards you will find in surround sound speaker systems that come in box sets today. The good news is that you can get really good prices on speaker systems such as this if you are willing to shop around.

Compare Prices

It really does pay in this day and age to do just that. Even if you have a favorite retailer chances are that you could get a better price through them by doing a simple search online and looking for a lower advertised price. If not, it might be worth your while to go with the Internet provider this time and save your money for DVDs and music with which to enjoy your new surround sound system. I also recommend seeing what local competition has to offer; you’ll be amazed at some of the wonderful bargains you can find by walking into a store on any given day. I know that stores like Circuit City have great bargains on featured items during the week in order to boost sales. You never know when one of those items might be an outstanding surround sound systems or a phenomenal set of speakers.

Wait it out

If you have your heart set on one surround sound system and nothing else will do, then it may be in your best interest to wait until the price drops. In electronics terms that often means waiting about 6 months or until the next consumer expo event (this is when all the new technology is introduced, which makes all the existing technology drop its prices in order to seem more appealing). Both of these options may seem unappealing but can mean very real and very significant savings on your part if you are willing to wait in order to get what you really want. Not only does this give you time for the prices to decrease but also for the size of your savings to increase.

While shopping on a budget isn’t always the preferred method it is very possible to get a decent home theater or surround sound system for your home even if you are working within the limits of a seriously impaired budget.

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